Jordan: 200 phones hit by Israeli 'hack', targets include Royal Court members

Two hundred phones in Jordan have been hacked by an unknown Israeli company, local media reported on Thursday.

Phones belonging to members of the kingdom's Royal Court and the National Olympic Committee were among those hacked, Ammon News said.

Individuals targeted include lawyer and activist Hala Ahed Deeb, journalist Dima Farraj, and politician Mostafa Hamarneh, the report said.

Ammon said it obtained this information "from informed sources at an international news agency in Washington". 

Ahed said that she was informed about her phone being hacked, while Hamarneh confirmed to Ammon that his phone manufacturer notified him about the incident, and that his phone was hacked continuously from last February to November last year.

Hamarneh said that the hack beached the privacy of several phone features, including numbers, photographs, WhatsApp chats, text messages, and the content of his e-mail inbox.

The Washington-based source told Ammon that they are unsure whether Israeli spyware Pegasus was used, but said that Israeli internal security committees are "investigating the incident".

The iPhone manufacturer Apple has told its users to "be cautious" following the phone hackings.

Deeb, alongside Bahraini human rights activist Ebtisam Al-Saegh, previously had their phones hacked by countries using the NSO Group spyware earlier this year.